Sunday, December 6, 2015

So, it seems that Antares has really picked up locally, the usual gulli... sorry, 'easily enthused' have started armies, and a few more are leaning in to see what the fuss is about.
There is even talk of starting a campaign, in a slow grow format, allowing people to get their bearings in a controlled manner:

As mentioned previously, I've started working a bit on a set of new 28mm minis. Some of you might have recognized the models on the painting table as a Concord NuHu Mandarin and Drop Trooper, from the new game Beyond the Gates of Antares (or simply 'the Antares game').

I've been following the development of the game ever since the failed kickstarter last year (it is still the only Kickstarter I've ever backed!), and I must admit to being very happy that the game now has a public release!

I've tested the beta rules a little bit, and they are about what I like from a large-scale game; enough detail that a game has enough options with 15-20 models on the table, while still having a nice flow and not getting bogged down in minutiae (during one of the test games we had trouble remembering which turn it was, because we'd gone through so many activations without thinking about it!)

I'm currently painting up a small force of Concorde Combined Command, or C3, a high-tech human civilisation (or The human civilisation, if you ask them) being ruled over by the Intergrated Machine Intelligence, IMTel, a giant Artificial Intelligence.

Here are some WIP shots:

My small force assembled and primed, Drop Troops and a Medium Weapon drone, as well as some flyer bases.

Colour scheme tester, from what I had lying around at home. Gray primer, turquoise chest piece, metallic weapon, and some Army Painter Dip to finish it off.
As a proof of concept, good enough, but the actual Antares models will have more work put into them.

WIP C3 Drop Troops (with a NuHu Mandarin in the background). Basically the C3s invasion forces, goes in first (using Grav Chutes, whatever that is), to establish a beachhead for the regulars to fill in to.
I've attached them to 30mm hex MDF bases, to have something to hold on to when painting.

Saturday, August 29, 2015

It's been a long time coming, not helped by the summer vacations and family visits.

The model itself is a very nice looking piece, and will probably remain the centerpiece for my Aquan Army for quite some time. I've also tried a few new things, with conversions, a fairly detailed modelled base, and my first actualy experiment with dry pigments!
More on the last part later, I've learned a lesson or two...

Friday, June 19, 2015

I've been looking at adding to my collection of Planetfall tokens for a while now, I have a set of the tokens that Spartan provided as part of the Platinium package for preordering Proteus Prime, but the number of Activated markers in that set is a bit limited. Enter Underground Lasers, with a full set of tokens, both for Armada and Planetfall.

Shipping and packaging both gets A remarks, it took half an hour from placing my order until it was shipped (!!!), and everything was neatly shrink wrapped, in a few cases with multiple layers.

I'd originally grown used to paying $25 shipping for my order, but thanks to a refund I ended up paying $15, I suspect it might be due to ordering only acrylics, which weights less than MDF.

Comparing them to Spartans own tokens, they are about the same size, but with much larger symbols and actual text describing the token, making readability easier. For these, I'm not even sure it would be neccssary to tint the engraving (which is a must for the delicate engraving on the Spartan tokens, I've even seen examples with painted symbols).

UGLs tokens are the blue ones in the picture above.

I'd give them a solid 4 out of 5, a decent set with good usability.

Zero Hour Tracker:

One of the unusual concepts in Planetfall is the Zero Hour Tracker, where you count down Tactical Value points from your starting army points divided by 100.

However, the cardboard version of the counter used to keep track of these in the start box is a bit flimsy, and the movable parts have a tendency to go AWOL.

The concept is simple enough; two movable pieces, one to keep track of the tens, and one to keep track of the singles. In this case, the actual tracking doodads (technical term, I promise) are kept in place through pre-cut square holes, matching pegs on the doodads. The number in question is displayed through a cut circle in the doodad, making the value perfectly clear.

As an added bonus, the edges are cut at 45 degrees angle, making it usable for measuring fire arcs, or Lumbering movement as well.

A very good tool that does it's job, and then some, but I do have a few things I'd like to point out:

The zeroes are engraved farthest to the right, I'd have liked them to the left.

The pegs have a little bit to loose tolerance, making the doodads susceptible to falling out, if say a bystander would be a bit rough with the counter. Nothing a bit of white glue (to thicken the pegs) won't fix, but a small annoyance nonetheless.

Score
A weak 4 out of 5, the loose pegs are enough of a irritation that it gets a slight downgrade.
All in all, a solid set of gaming tools for Planetfall.

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

In lieu of gaming this Saturday, I buckled down and got some long overdue modelling done, namely my El-Shami Leviathan. I'd already decided to change the 'feet', but this time the base was due for some detailing.

My two extra infantry bases volunteered to provide some sense of proportion (better than to spend the foreseeable future unpainted, I guess), and an old Dindrenzi Stormcaller half-track got turned into a wreck.

After that I set up some putty and sand to create a footprint, and the half track got some tracks behind it as well, to show from where it came

After painting the usual flock will be added, and perhaps even a tree, although that might be a bit much.

Monday, June 8, 2015

So, during the past week I've actually been playing some games of Planetfall (and finishing up my Core Helix, more on that later).

So far, most of my games has been losses.

I'll admit, I've made a few mistakes (I'm usually far too aggressive with my Recons, for one thing), but I'm starting to consider if me and my opponent does not actually play with too much terrain on the table.

Looking at others battle reports, it seems that at most players have at most 3-5 larger pieces and a smattering of smaller things, which is a far cry from the 8+ buildings, plus forests and bunkers, that usually gets put on our table.
That actually got me thinking; what kind of game is this supposed to be, regarding terrain?

Obviously, terrain has a huge impact on both tactics and strategy, particularly for the Aquans, who at once both want terrain, to make use of the Hit and Run MAR and their above average mobility, and wants clear firing lines, to best leverage the long range of their lasers.

Obviously, this means that there should be some guidelines for how much terrain to use, much like the famous 25% rule in Firestorm Armada.
Looking in the Planetfall rulebook, there are only two ways to set up terrain described;

In a mutuable agreeable way, which can obviously be any which way.

Random (or 'Tournament') setup, averaging one terrain piece for every 2' section of the board (so 6 in total).

With the guidelines in the rulebook regarding terrain size, we can extrapolate a min, max and average terrain coverage:

Minimal terrain is two terrain pieces. Although unlikely (less than 1/10th of a percent) it is a possibility, and will mean that vary little of the board i covered (although two 12x12 pieces in the middle could give something to play around...)

Average is around 6 terrain pieces, which should cover (36"^2 x 6) assuming that the average terrain piece is half of the max size on each side (max being defined in the rulebook as 12x12"). Coverage 216 square inches, or 6.25 %.

Looking at these numbers, we can calculate some kind of median, or at least max divided by two (not really a mathematical median, by any means), i.e 864 square inches of coverage, or 25%.

Based on this, I'd recommend between 10 and 25 percent of coverage, at least as a guideline akin to Armadas 25% rule.
Yes, this means that Planetfall is supposed to have less terrain than Armada, which might not be that surprising, considering the larger impact of terrain dirtside (no indirect weapons to fire through LoS blocking or impeding terrain pieces...).

For my next game, I'll most definitely try the something like the median, or at least something close to it (instead of having 2-3 buildings in the same sector... Let me tell you, that really limits the fire arcs, and thus the possible moves, that one can do)

I'll see if I cannot get some photos of the various setups, to get an image of how much coverage these alternatives really gives.

Called for time, but there was no way I could have caught up, not with only a single Take and Hold unit remaining.

First two activations his WR Helix killed
my Heavy Helix (CQBd and shot my Haumea to death with the hoverlights,
and I then failed my morale for the Tank Destroyers, causing them to be
Forlorn due to a previous casualty from the Intereceptors)

I did manage to scrape some points back, though, once I started to grind through his squadrons, but it was not enough.
To the left you can see one of the better moments of the game, my two Sednas and a squad of Recon facing off against three Directorate Heavy Tanks.
End result? Two dead human Heavies, and a single Sedna left standing... I call that a win (albeit barely...)

Also, my Leviathan failed to cause any
damage whatsoever two out of three turns... Time to send the cadets
piloting the thing back to gunnery school.

To the right you can see the situation at the end of the game, the secondary objectives are in the middle of the table towards the wall. A strong Directorate presence still, and with no way of capturing the objectives short of pouring horrible amounts of firepower into his entrenched infantry, not really that much to do (besides taking my unguarded Primary, on my left flank, something I should have done much earlier... =

Also, my Project X fleet got to show off (or rather ground to dust), on the same day I got everything bar the SRS completed!

Armada

Players: Ahmadan vs MikaelPoints: 800Scenario: Defend the StationFactions and Allies: Relthoza vs TarakiansBattle log: 0/7, Tarakian victory.Mental note: there is no point whatsoever keeping cloaks on against Tarakians... His cruisers (4 ship strong squadrons, with 5 HP each and indirect weapons? Yea, the Tarakians should do just fine against their ancient enemy...) picked apart most of my fleet, with the Ganak Battleship finishing up afterwards...Conversion Corner:

I recently started modifying my Aquan Leviathan, to remove the one detail I was less fond of, the hinges at the feet: The armour plates are actually the front pieces from old Chironex Cruisers. I've since started to blend them into the legs using green stuff, expect some more WIP this week.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Three of them, to be specific my three Aquan heavy tanks, one Haumea and two Sednas:

Belly view:

I've spent some extra time on the bone parts here, using both Khaki, a darker brown and ink to create gradients. Looks fairly decent, if I say so myself (and I'm not done yet...)

Top view:

I've not made as much progress on the top half, only gotten so far as to block in the base colours, wash with Blue Tone, and start on the bone parts of the weapons.
The differences in tone and paint scheme is intentional, although I want the colours to be similar, I want these beasts to be a bit more individualistic than their smaller cousins (and the Haumea should be be even further differentiated). I might even go so far as to add some battle scars in the end, to further reinforce the fact that they are massive war machines.

Game wise, the Sedna fulls the much needed role of main punch in the force, as the mediums lack the close up firepower (both with Main Ordinance and CQB) to match most opponents. Hence, the Sedna should probably be used in pairs, although I've been experimenting with only using a single as a oversized APC for my infantry, to try and grab the secondaries. The downside to this is that I then have to try to punch with a Lamana squad (with Sirsir support, of course), which tends to result in a battle of attrition that the Aquans are ill suited for.

I'm going to give it a few more tries, before giving up on the idea...

All in all, I'm impressed. Something I would not have guessed (a walker, among a faction of skimmers), with a design that complements the existing models, while still not being solely designed from re-used elements of other models.
The one thing I'm not sure about is the feet, but I've got some old Chironex Cruiser front pieces that might make decent 'talons' instead (sure, I'll have to remove about 80% of the bit to make it fit, but... ).

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

My long since ordered Battlestation box for my Aquans finally came in, so that is the new addition...

Completed:FSP: 27 (+3)FSA: 1

At long last, my three Locatu Tank Destroyers are complete:

Took a while, but in the end I think it was worth the time. The purple was the last to be finished, and I couldn't have done it without my new go-to purple tool: Army Painter Purple Tone.

Removed:FSA: 6

Coming up: My three Heavy Tanks for Planetfall, and after that I think I should get some Armada done (I'm actually really tempted to speed paint a new faction, just to get something done quickly, and the new RSN boxes are tempting...)

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Last week turned out to be a bit of a lost week painting wise, but this week looks better:

Locatu WIP:

The turquoise and green I consider done (might tweak some spots with an even brighter turquoise), what remains is the white highlights and doing something with the purple parts...
With some luck and a few more early mornings I should have them done before this week ends.

Heavy Helix bases:

I've experimented with what I'd like to call MkII of my bases, basically the same as before, but with a AP Green Tone shade added to the sanded parts after the grey highlight. This means that the flock ties into the base a bit better, and it looks a bit like undergrowth instead of grey earth.
I'm not sure it will replace the MkI scheme for all models, but it is a nice alternative for a greener area.

Sedna WIP:

At long last, I've restarted my two Core Helix heavy tanks. Not even a full basecoat yet, but the intent is there. I've not painted the same areas green on purpose, to give these behemoths their own identity, and I'm toying with the idea to pain actual battlescars to further differentiate them.

That's it for painting progress this week...

Link of the day: www.warmage.de/ has recently (yesterday, I think) released a (huge!) set of 10mm buildings, in three different styles, one of which is a very nice SciFi theme. This is something that I could see myself pick up for my growing Planetfall Terrain project (more on that, and my Blotz hoard, in a future post...), painted in the right colours it could make for a very nice Terquai, Terran or Dindrenzi quarter of a larger city.

Friday, February 27, 2015

Aquired:FSA: 13 (+4 since last time) FSP: 10 I picked up a cruiser box to complement my Overseers box; I intend to make them into Namor class cruisers, with or without a Heavy Cruiser attached

Completed:FSP: 24 (+6)FSA: 1 (+1)Not much more than my Khitari kadre, and on the FSA side my long suffering Dagon Battlecarrier.

Removed:FSA: 6

I've also
started over with my two Sedna Heavy Skimmers for FSP, after some
searching I found a decent paint remover, although it requires you to be
careful (leave the model in too long, and you have a pile of rubber on
your hands...).I've heard good things of rubbing alcohol, all I need is a way to source it locally...

The above picture is a fairly decent summary of the battle; although I lay slightly ahead of the damage game, I could not contest with someone holding three out of four objectives, and he won fair and square at the end of round two.

Highlights include my Locatu Tank Destroyers wiping a Directorate medium tank from across the board, despite being on Overwatch, and my Haumea Heavy Tank locking on to, and subsequently almost wiping, a buggy squadron, both in the first round.

Next time I will include a Recon Helix, to take objectives if nothing else.

The last turn was almost as bad as the image above describes.
A single Spook on it's last damage point managed to shunt away from my Corvettes, but other than that the entire RSN force was wiped out.

I wish I could take credit for the victory, that my bold plan an unprecedented tactics won the day, but in reality it was a combination of jammy dice on my part, and my opponent not really being used to the RSN (he borrowed the fleet), they seem to take some getting used to...

Also, minefields are brutal vs the low DR and CR of the RSN Cruisers and Destroyers, and I put two (from my escorts) along the path he needed to take out of deployment with his cruisers.

The new Shiva gunships might be my favourite of the new Return of the Overseers Aquan ships, dual shields and decent firepower, both from beams and torpedoes, creates a winning combination. Very good survivability stats does not hurt, either.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

So, at long last I finally made some decent progress on my first Khitari Cadre, I'd go so far as to say that it is finished! (Bar a coat of varnish and some spots I noticed in the photos...). Once that is done I'll be up to 24 finished models so far...

Now for the Heavy Helix!
I'm skipping the Recon Helix for now, I need to put in some serious modelling time to get both the infantry and Gunship to where I want them.
For the infantry I intend to follow vonHymacks Tutorial for removing the flash, and I'm still not sure about the gunship... It needs a little bit of something. Also, I couldn't keep myself from putting some paint on the wonderful pieces of resin that is the Locatu Tank Destroyers:

I know that the model looks like white resin, but that is actually after a coat of my cheap grey primer.

With some effort I should be able to have all three in a semi-painted state until my game on Thursday.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

So, with the advent of the Overseers box I recently received I've started thinking about what to do with the ships therein.I've got slightly more than 2000 points of Aquans painted so far, in a fairly easy turquoise scheme, but I've been thinking about doing something different for this batch.My fleet so far got done in a concentrated effort last spring, and I'd like to avoid getting bored with my regular paint scheme (I got a bit burned out towards the end...). I'd also like to limit myself a bit, set a clear goal to make it easier to commit to, and hence get done.The launch of Planetfall got me brainstorming some ideas around; what would a Quick Response force look like for the Aquan Sebrutan? Let's face it, once a Directorate raiding fleet has shown up at a colony and blown away it's defenders, you'd want to have something to rapidly reinforce or counter-invade the planet with.The same setup could probably be used for quick hit and run invasions of your own, or intelligence gathering, something like an Aquan version of the USMC, basically.Basically, this would be a themed force, a "Breaking Wave Shoal"**. A small force, concentrating on speed and firepower, and Wings (for rapid transportation of assets to the surface, and aerial support afterwards). Some boarding capabilities and area denial (to keep enemy reinforcements at bay) would probably come in handy as well...So, what does this give us regarding fleet design?Starting with the Return of the Overseers box, there is already a Tier 1, the new Oannes Heavy Carrier, that fits the bill perfectly: good firepower, and either sneaky (Difficult Target on a Tier 1? Don't mind if I do!), or with a decent complement of shields.

The new Shiva Gunships is another solid squadron, plenty of firepower, and with a Sulis in the squadron they should be able to skulk around out of Line of sight fulfilling the stealth criteria, so that takes care of the mandatory Tier 2 squadron (and makes use of the RotO For Smalls, I'm thinking Snapper Corvettes, both because of the speed, but also because of the very handy Elusive Target MAR. For once, I'm actually thinking of upgrading with Pack Hunters, to give some added punch.

That is a T2 squadron and some upgrades short of a Patrol Fleet, I could see either of the three following:

Stingray destroyers, for some added long-range punch

Arual Assault Cruisers, to follow the theme and add some close range capabilities (and the added ties to the Planetfall Recon Helix does not hurt)

Isonade Cruisers, for mine laying capabilities, and harassment (3 regular cruiser with the Mine Hardpoint, with a Heavy to lead them, have a respectable amount of firepower, while still keeping to budget)

For larger fleets I'd probably add one or two Orca battlecruisers and another T2 squadron, rounding out the Firepower theme.The hard part remains, colour scheme!

**Named for where the sea meets land with force, but 'Surf Shoal' sounded a bit... meh.

Gotten about halfway with my Khitari infantry. I'll probably revisit my painting process for next time, though... Staining did not really work as intended on these small models, there are a lot of details that need to be touched up.

Started washing and assembling my Aquan Heavy Helix for Planetfall, including the really nice Locatu tank destroyer models, I'll most definitely get another heavy helix just to get some more of these to paint.

Started working on my Blotz stuff (arrived yesterday): a lot of 10mm building goodness! So far only a small radar dish has seen the light of day, but more will come before the end of the month, including a review of the kits.

That leaves me with a lot of newly acquired models, almost filling my self-imposed 'Sliding Painting Window', which means no more purchases for a while, at least until I've made a dent in the buffer...

Paint tracker status update VModels:

Aquired:FSA: 9 (Return of the Overseers box, so 4 frigates, 4 mediums and a large)FSP: 10 (Heavy Helix, with two bonus Stingrays!)

Completed:FSP:18FSA: 0

Removed:FSA: 6

I also need to do some kind of inventory of my backlog box, with Legions, Armada and Planetfall it is starting to overflow....

Sunday, February 8, 2015

So, I've been a bit non productive lately, that's what happens with two sick kids..

However, Spartan has instead ramped up, and revealed a Kickstarter for modular terrain, and started hinting about a big reveal...
Seeing as their new banner is something closely resembling a Halo Spartan helmet, I'm going to assume that it heralds some kind of forage into that universe..
To make matters more interesting, this is not the first I hear about such a thing, a few months back I heard something about Spartan acquiring a Halo licence, but not much more.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Yep, got my Votari crystals finished this morning (I get most of my painting done while the rest of the family still sleeps...), just too late to be considered ready in January.
I'm not really happy with the paint job, this will have to do for now, I've already burnt a lot of energy discovering a lot of ways to paint them that I don't like...

I'll get a better scheme for the next batch (and who knows, I might test how well varnish withstands T-Röd, the designated paint removal chemical around here...)

Also made some decent progress on my first batch of Infantry, all bases are painted, just a final grey drybrysh of the sand to be done before adding flock (o yes, I need to paint the actual infantrymen at some point too...)

I've also made some headway (the famous 'Almost done' step) on 4 drop markers, with a scheme tying them to my Aquan force (as the Terquai technically are part of the Sebrutan, I see no issues with having the same scheme for their drop markers...)
Any limitations* will be marked using different coloured dice.

So, where does that leave me, progress-wise?

Progress so far in 2015:

Models:

Aquired:FSA: 2

Completed:FSP:16FSA: 0

Removed: FSA: 6

Not too bad, so far....

In other news: Some time back (two weeks almost!), I played my first turns of the new Planetfall! Unfortunately the game was cut short due to my opponent getting dragged into a game club board meeting (fitting, as he plays Directorate...), but at least I got to play the first two turns:

Last image I snapped of the game

Still, even a short game is better than none, and it really whet my appetite for more, so much in fact that I've already ordered some MDF buildings from Blotz.co.uk, to start replacing the Hawk paper buildings (works as filler, but will probably not survive for too long... )
My opponent managed to score the only TV of the game, when he wiped out a squadron of my light recon tanks who'd dared move near the tertiary objective in the middle of the table, so nominally he managed to push the Kurak forces out of the area...

Still, a rematch is in order, and scheduled for later this month.
Until then I need to get some more painting done!

*In Planetfall, drop markers are used as pre-designated spots for dropping troops or artillery strikes on, Certain markers can only be used for specific troop types (and arty tokens can only be used for artillery strikes...)

Thursday, January 29, 2015

I've also added some FSA SRS tokens, I'm tired of not having enough completed when I play.

Progress so far in 2015:

Models:

Aquired:FSA: 2

Completed:FSP:12FSA: 0

Removed: FSA: 6

So, I just sold off a blister of corvettes and some SRS, and completed my stingrays...
Not sure how to count Tokens, though. I'm leaning towards counting them as 0.5 models for painting purposes, and not count them at all for selling purposes.

I've also been working on 6 infantry stands, starting with the bases, here in three different stages:

Monday, January 19, 2015

Believe it or not, but another squad finished before my game tomorrow:

The full squadron (tentatively named Ocean Squall) :

Close up of a Lamana:

Close up of the Sirsir (specialist designator skimmer):

It'll be interesting to see how they perform, I'm not sure if I want the Sirsir in a medium squadron, or in a heavy squadron, but as the mediums probably will be closest to the enemy, the increased close range fighting abilities of the Sirsir will probably be of better use there.